Black Swan Graphene Additive Improves TPU's Abrasion Resistance

PUdaily | Updated: May 8, 2023

Black Swan Graphene Inc. is pleased to announce that the latest version of its GraphCore™001 graphene nanoplatelet material ("Graphcore") enhances the composite abrasion resistance by a range of 60% to 80%, when used as an additive in Thermoplastic Polyurethane ("TPU"). The company had previously communicated an already enviable enhancement performance of 45% in TPU with a 1% loading ratio (amount of additive material added to a composite material, relative to the amount of matrix material).

Figure 1: Weight loss and abrasion resistance of TPU composites at different loading levels (CNW Group/Black Swan Graphene Inc)

TPU is a thermoplastic elastomer combining some properties of both plastic and rubber. It is tough, flexible, durable, and resistant to abrasion as well as to oils and lubricants. This unique combination of properties makes TPU ideally suitable for various applications including in automotive, sports equipment, textile coatings, and mobile handsets.

Simon Marcotte, President and Chief Executive Officer of Black Swan Graphene, commented: "Today's performance results serve as a reminder that graphene could revolutionize the enormous polymer industry. In addition to improving abrasion resistance, graphene offers meaningful benefits such as weight reduction, cost savings, enhanced precision, improved gas permeability, and increased thermal conductivity, all of which can improve existing markets and pave the way for new applications."

The manufacture of the composites, being the Graphcore-enhanced TPU, and the subsequent testing, were carried out independently at the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre ("GEIC") located at the University of Manchester, United Kingdom. The precise type of TPU selected for the trials is currently used in mobile equipment and extruded sheets, which are generally used in many industries from packaging to transportation and construction materials. The composites were manufactured via a masterbatch and then moulded to carry out the tests, which were based on loading ratios of 0.5%, 1.0%, and 1.5%.

The results, presented in the figure-1 below, show that all the Graphcore-loaded composites demonstrated improvements in performance compared to the pristine level.

The abrasion tests correspond to norm ISO 5470 - 1:2016 – Taber abrasion1. Three thousand (3,000) cycles were carried out using standard abrasive wheels with 1,000 grams of weight per wheel. The weight loss was recorded after each 1,000 cycles. Between each 1,000 cycles, the wheels were abraded with the standard sandpaper to 50 cycles; sandpaper was changed for the start of each new test.

 

 

 

Source: Black Swan Graphene

The content (including but not limited to text, photo, charts, tables, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to PUdaily. Without written authorization from PUdaily, such content shall not be republished or used in any form.
Tel:
+86 21 6125 0980
Address:
Room 607, Block B, No.1439 Wuzhong Road, Shanghai, China
FOLLOW US

沪ICP备07503210号
沪公网安备31011202002186号
Copyright © 2007-2024 Suntower Consulting Limited. All Rights Reserved.